I don't know if anyone reading this board still collects vinyl, but among those that do I was wondering if anyone had tried the new turntables coming out now with USB connectivity.

I was trying to gauge the quality by reading the online reviews and they seem to be extremely biased in either one direction or the other, ie the dj's and audiophiles are panning them because, I dunno, they're light in weight or have belt-drives or something, and the cable-phobes are raving about them because there's not a lot of contortionism involved, it's just plug 'n play.

Well, I'm not a dj, I don't "scratch", I don't know about belt vs. direct drive, and I don't demand a "pristine listening experience"...and I don't mind *not* having plug'n play connectivity, tho that sounds appealing.

The bottom line is I need a new turntable, these (the ION iTTUSB) are going for 100 or so bux, and I was wondering if they were reliable enough or not.

You will want a fairly heavy platter, in the range of at least 4 pounds.

The advantage of the USB turntables is that they have a A to D converter built right in and a direct feed to the computer, as opposed to going through a sound card. The distadvantage of the USB Turntables is that they have a A to D converter built right in and a direct feed to the computer, as opposed to going through a sound card. Sound cards have better A to D converters, and can support 24 bit.

I recently bought a Pro-Ject turntable with a top of the line Grado Cartridge for about $400. If you are converting vinyl to digital, you really need to start with the best signal you can afford. No sense in having $300 headset or $5,000 speakers if there is a hum because the turntable is crap.

I am not panning the device, merely stating that cheap and easy is not always good and that you should read reviews and try to understand what you are doing with the turntable and how you will use it.

Oh, yeah, I was kinda afraid of that, that maybe the manufacturer was really only adding USB connectivity to an inferior turntable and using that as a marketing gimmick to technophobes in order to move product...some of the negative reviews did say that the turntable was light and "plastic-y".

Well, I dunno, I should look for a compromise between reasonable quality and price, I guess. I definitely don't want anything near the best as I'm in no way an audiophile and definitely don't have $100+ phones nor $1000+ speakers.

I hadn't considered that platter weight, motor isolation, etc might be options to weigh, so thanks for the information, Scooter, that stuff is good to know. And I know you weren't panning anything, I do appreciate the feedback!

rovingcowboy, yea, I actually have a monster turntable that an old fiancee gave me a few years ago that's on it's last leg. Either that or it's suddenly taken on her personality and has decided to torment me by playing at incorrect speeds--actually, Della Reese singing "the lady's a tramp!" @ 78RPM kinda sounds like her (high-pitched voice, torrents of blabber and all those "don'ts", you know).

Oh gosh, or a Bollywood soundtrack sped up...I didn't know what she was talking about half the time as it was.

I recently purchased one of the new USB turntables. Very Cheaply made and low quality. Thinking of returning it... I wanted one to put my vinyl on cd's, but dont want to reuin them on an inferior turntable..[/u][/i]